Wal-Mart Plans To Offer Lower-Cost Electronic Health Records System For Physician Offices

Main Category: IT / Internet / E-mail
Also Included In: Primary Care / General Practice;  Medical Practice Management
Article Date: 12 Mar 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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Wal-Mart this spring will partner its Sam's Club division with Dell and eClinicalWorks to begin offering low-cost electronic health records systems to physicians, the New York Times reports. Under the initiative, Dell will provide the health care providers with the option for a desktop or tablet personal computer, while eClinicalWorks will contribute the EHR and practice management software that would be used for Internet-based patient billing and registration. Wal-Mart will use its "buying power" to acquire discounts for both the software and hardware, the Times reports.

The initial cost to set up the EHR system will be less than $25,000 for the first physician and about $10,000 for each additional physician in a practice. The annual management and support will cost about $4,000 to $6,500 per year after installation and training, according to Sam's Club estimates. Wal-Mart officials said that the EHR initiative would make it more accessible and cost-efficient for physicians to adopt health care information technology because of their ability charge as much as 50% less than other health IT providers. In addition, the $19 billion health care IT incentive package included in the Obama administration's economic stimulus package -- under which physicians would be eligible for more than $40,000 over several years -- could accelerate EHR adoption among physicians, according to the Times.

According to the Times, while many physicians, especially those in small practices, "doubt the wisdom of switching to electronic health records, given their cost and complexity," Wal-Mart "has the potential to bring not only lower costs but also an efficient distribution channel to cater to small physician groups." Marcus Osborne, senior director for health care business development at Wal-Mart, said, "We're a high-volume, low-cost company," adding, "And I would argue that mentality is sorely lacking in the health care industry." David Brailer, the former national coordinator for health IT under former President George W. Bush, said, "If Wal-Mart is successful, this could be a game changer" (Lohr, New York Times, 3/11).

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